I just touched down here in Miami and am looking forward to getting a view of the defending champs, though they are still apparently in the hangover phase of their championship defense. Even as they have built a 15-6 record, good for second in the East and tied for fifth overall, Miami has not looked like the monster team it was in the NBA Finals when the Heat dominated the Thunder with four straight wins after dropping the series opener in Oklahoma City. The defense has been dodgy, the wins unconvincing and the recent record—3-3 in their last six games—downright mediocre.

Coach Erik Spoelstra has gone back to starting Udonis Haslem at power forward, a very traditional 4-man, backing away from the team’s ballyhooed reinvention of the game by playing LeBron James and Shane

Battier as “positionless” hybrid forwards. That move was heralded by excitable types as forever altering the future of basketball, but, alas, the future looks much the same as the recent past. That’s not to say that Battier (who has battled a knee injury) won’t eventually return to the starting five, only that maybe there are some advantages to traditional positions, after all.

It says something about the expectations for the Heat, of course, that they can be viewed as slightly disappointing, even as they sit near the top of the league—and fifth in this week’s power rankings:

1. Oklahoma City Thunder. Underrated factor for Oklahoma City—they’re second in the league in free-throw attempts, and easily tops in the league in free-throw shooting percentage.

2. New York Knicks. Seeing Jeremy Lin is nice and all but, given their record, they’re plenty happy with the trio of Raymond Felton, Jason Kidd and Pablo Prigioni.

3. Los Angeles Clippers. It will be interesting to see what the Clippers do when injured small forward Grant Hill returns. Matt Barnes has played too well to lose his spot in the rotation.

4. San Antonio Spurs. Very quietly, 36-year-old Tim Duncan is having his best season since ’09-’10 and is averaging better than 2.0 blocks for the first time in five years.

5. Miami Heat. Remember when Mario Chalmers proclaimed himself a Top 10 point guard? He is averaging 6.5 points on 39.7 percent shooting this year.

6. Memphis Grizzlies. They played five of their first seven games in December on the road, and things did not go well. But that stretch is followed by five out of six at home.

7. Golden State Warriors. They followed an upset win over Miami with a dud in Orlando, but they rallied to win in Atlanta. That gave them a 6-1 road trip, the first time they’ve finished with a positive record in a trip of that length since 1970-71.

8. Atlanta Hawks. Josh Smith is looking to come back from one of his worst performances in recent memory, as he shot 1-for-12 for three points with three turnovers against the Warriors on Saturday.

9. Chicago Bulls. Coach Tom Thibodeau doesn’t much like answering questions about Derrick Rose’s rehab, but he did offer this: “He's still a ways away from the actual practice.”

10. Minnesota Timberwolves. The Wolves have managed to win seven of their last nine games despite their continued struggles at the 3-point arc. They’re shooting a league-low 29.8 percent on 3s.

11. Indiana Pacers. They’ve pulled themselves together with three straight wins, but they’ll need to keep it going on Tuesday when they play Milwaukee, one of their Central rivals.

12. Milwaukee Bucks. They’ve been missing top reserve Mike Dunleavy, who has a bruised knee, for the last seven games. Dunleavy is shooting 42.4 percent from the 3-point line.

13. Brooklyn Nets. For the third time this year, the Nets will face the Knicks. Getting the rivalry started is a good idea for the league, but why not save some games for the stretch run?

14. Denver Nuggets. The rest of December is still tough, with five road games and just three at home. But January first starts a stretch of 15 out of 18 at home.

15. Boston Celtics. It looked like the Celtics were getting their tough, trapping defense going for a few games last week. Then they headed to Texas and it fell apart.

16. Utah Jazz. They’ve gotten their offense rolling, averaging 103.6 points in December, but they have a big test as they embark on a four-game road trip starting in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

17. Philadelphia Sixers. Center Andrew Bynum told reporters his knees are doing “much better” but that might not be saying much. He meets with his doctor again on December 20.

18. Houston Rockets. The leading role suits James Harden. In his first 22 games this year, he scored 549 points, more than half the 1,044 points he scored in 62 games last year.

19. Dallas Mavericks. Dallas was able to conjure up some magic to get in the West playoff picture without star Dirk Nowitzki. But if they want to stay there, clearly, they need him back soon.

20. Orlando Magic. Yes, it is official: After a weekend in which they beat the Warriors and Bobcats, the Magic are better than the Lakers. For now, at least.

21. Portland Trail Blazers. If there was any doubt that Damian Lillard was well ahead in the Rookie of the Year race, he erased it by knocking down a 3-pointer to beat the Hornets—and top pick Anthony Davis.

22. Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers finished what was shaping up to be a bad four-game road trip (opening losses to the Cavaliers and Knicks) with wins over the Wizards and Sixers. Now they have just one game before the weekend comes.

23. Phoenix Suns. Coincidence? Maybe. But Michael Beasley has played fewer than 20 minutes six times this year, and the Suns are 4-2 in those games. They’re 1-6 when he plays 30 minutes or more.

24. Sacramento Kings. We keep waiting for the time that DeMarcus Cousins puts it all together on the floor. Shooting 42.3 percent as a big man does not qualify as putting it together.

25. Toronto Raptors. Toronto began shopping point guard Jose Calderon almost as soon as they signed him to a long-term deal. With his contract expiring and coming off a triple-double Sunday (17 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds), maybe now is the time.

26. Detroit Pistons. Saturday’s loss to the Pacers, in which Detroit scored 77 points, marked the fifth time this year the Pistons haven’t been able to reach the 80-point mark.

27. Charlotte Bobcats. It has been Charlotte’s defense that has been primarily at fault during the 11-game losing streak. They’ve allowed 100-plus points in 10 of those losses.

28. Cleveland Cavaliers. Kyrie Irving returned with 28 points and 11 assists in his first game in three weeks, a win over the Lakers. But Cleveland went on to lose its next three in a row.

29. New Orleans Hornets. Monty Williams has to be happy with his perimeter game, which has seen the Hornets make 40.1 percent of their 3-pointers. He can’t be happy with the perimeter D, though—the Hornets give up 40.5 percent shooting on 3s.

30. Washington Wizards. All you need to know about the Wizards’ offense is that their two top scorers, Jordan Crawford and Bradley Beal, are shooting a combined 37.5 percent from the field.